Call for Action!

Click on the images to download the Call for Action in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese!

Normalise abortion: It’s part of our lives!

“No more smokescreens, no more labels, no more codes: let’s talk abortion”

It is estimated that 35 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 happen each year worldwide.Abortion happens in Sweden, Greece and France, where it is legal, performed by medical professionals, and covered by the national health insurance. And it also takes place in Kenya, El Salvador, and the Philippines, where it is a crime and a woman who terminates a pregnancy risks going to jail or dying. According to anthropologists, abortion is found in virtually every society, going back at least 4,000 years.

Yet, one thing that all countries have in common regardless of their laws and policies on abortion is that it is a stigmatized procedure. There are levels of stigma depending on each of the countries and contexts but for the most part, women who access abortions still fear being judged, arrested, persecuted, harassed or even killed. As a result, many women are forced to seek out this health service through clandestine and/or often unsafe means, and at the same time, activists are forced to navigate precarious contexts in the face of restraint and repression. Silence, fear, shame, and stigma: these are all elements that are reinforced and reproduced through misinformation and ignorance. The prevailing views on abortion around the globe produce, reproduce and reinforce stigma at individual, community, institutional, cultural, and legal levels. The stigma surrounding abortion shames and silences individuals seeking abortion, individuals who have had an abortion, and healthcare providers in this line of work. In some cases, abortion stigma justifies and upholds restrictive and coercive laws criminalizing abortion, thereby serving as a major contributor to unsafe abortions, and subjecting countless persons to grave human rights violations. The stigma surrounding abortion also intersects with pervasive power relations, patriarchal norms, wrongful gender stereotypes, and privileged identity markers.

Too often, rights to abortion are defended through reference to various tragic circumstances of pregnancy: life endangerment, rape, incest, and congenital malformation. But this silences and stigmatizes the great majority of women whose reasons for obtaining an abortion do not fall into these categories.

In this time of eroding rights, we must renew our efforts to show that safe and accessible abortion is a social good that is inextricable from broader issues of social equality and justice. Abortion must be seen as a part of individuals lives. It should be discussed in our conversations in its full human setting: sex and sexuality, love, violence, privilege, class, race, school and work, men, the scarcity or inexistence in some countries of reproductive health care, of realistic, accurate information about sex and reproduction. It should be included in our demands for the right to bodily and psychological integrity, the right to autonomy, the right to health and the right to life free from harm. Conversations about abortion need to take place in our governments, in our classrooms, in our communities, in our homes if we are to realize, protect and fulfill the rights of women and girls. Let’s talk about abortion, let’s normalise abortion.

This September 28, join us in asking governments, policy makers, the international community, friends, families and allies: #Letstalkabortion and let’s normalise abortion.

TAKE ACTION! Here is how you can contribute:

Join the Bake-off for Safe Abortion: To effect change, some people march, some sign petitions and some boycott. For this September 28 we are encouraging activists to bake a cake adorned with snappy protest slogans, like “Normalise abortion”, and “Abortion is healthcare.” Cake is normal, so is abortion. Share your cake photos

Join the “scarfazo”!: Using green bandanas, a symbol of abortion rights, Argentinian activists launched a “green wave” throughout the bill’s evaluation in their country and, in turn, have launched an international movement. Let’s join scarfs with them and wear green bandanas on September 28! Share your photos with the hashtag: #Letstalkabortion #greenwave

Host an awareness raising activity: organise aforum, meeting, workshop/training, cultural event to discuss strategies and challenges to normalising abortion in your communities, talk about the role that media and community leaders play in this and what you can do to change the discourse and normalise abortion.

Visitwww.september28.org to download the campaign logo, campaign toolkit, campaign posters and for more suggested actions!

Diverse Actions, Different Places, One Demand:

Access to Safe & Legal Abortion NOW!

www.september28.org

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September 28 (formerly known as Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion, now known as International Safe Abortion Day) is a globally recognized day that frames campaign activities undertaken by advocates around the world to strengthen an international movement for legal and safe abortion. This year, WGNRR, the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion, Ipas Africa Alliance, Campaña 28 de Septiembre LAC and many more partners and allies are joining efforts and launching a united theme! September 28 has been a regional campaign for the decriminalization of abortion in Latin America and Caribbean for nearly thirty years before being taken on by SRHR activists all over the world as a Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion in 2011.

September 28 has been a regional campaign for the decriminalization of abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean for over twenty years before being taken on by SRHR activists all over the world in 2011. WGNRR undertakes September 28 annual campaigning activities in collaboration with its members, partners, and allies around the world, and as a member of the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion.